On 26 November 2016, friends and I were so very lucky. On a walk in Fish Creek Park, we found not only an owl, but two owls, and different species - a Great Horned Owl and a teeny, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl. It had been almost two years since I last saw a Northern Pygmy-owl. That one, also, had been seen in Fish Creek Park. On 26 November, it was near the top of a very tall tree, so my photos were fully zoomed and cropped and I posted one just for the record.

The Great Horned Owl, however, was seen nice and low and out in the open. The bird was large and fairly pale, so we think it was probably a female. After taking a few photos through the trees, we continued our walk and I was able to get a few shots from a different angle, just before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

The forest was so quiet, with so few birds. This little Red-breasted Nuthatch gave me a chance for one quick photo, as did a Black-capped Chickadee. I go on so few walks, and tend not to take many photos of our more common little birds.

"An intense bundle of energy at your feeder, Red-breasted Nuthatches are tiny, active birds of north woods and western mountains. These long-billed, short-tailed songbirds travel through tree canopies with chickadees, kinglets, and woodpeckers but stick to tree trunks and branches, where they search bark furrows for hidden insects. Their excitable yank-yank calls sound like tiny tin horns being honked in the treetops." From AllABoutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-breasted_nuthatch